The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword has fully orchestrated soundtrack

@DekuTree
I saw.

@DekuTree
I nerded.

@DekuTree

In a speech bubble, I hope.

@bm111

because a lot of games just use overuse the same songs that are being played in the radio, TV, movies, etc.

Orchestras are awesome.

@bm111

I think the Mario Galaxy soundtracks were pretty memorable... ('_', )

@bm111 Personally, I thought Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 had some of the most memorable tunes of this generation. Nevertheless, to each his own.

@bm111

Remember my favorite game from a year ago?
Okay, I'll bite: Assassin's Creed Brotherhood.
Whats that? I still remember every single beautiful track from that game?
Yes, yes I do.

According to you, orchestrated music != forgettable and bland violin ensembles.

Take a look at Xenoblade Chronicles. Almost the entire game is fully orchestrated and it has one of the best sound tracks to come out in over 10 years.

Maybe you don't really understand music, and for that I can forgive your comment. But you can't honestly look me in the eye and say that orchestrated music is the death of "memorable tunes" in video games. Shitty music is the death of memorable tunes, not lush orchestration.

@bm111

Yeah, this logic doesn't make any sense...a game's music is boring because it's boring, not because they use an orchestra. An orchestra is just their (poor) attempt at hiding that fact. But an orchestra that's used well can produce amazing music, such as in...Galaxy 2.

"According to you, orchestrated music != forgettable and bland violin ensembles."

Er, I don't know why I put "!="
That completely defeats my argument.

I've got too much coding on the brain right now...

@bm111
My favorite game released from last year? Mass Effect 2. I can hum the main theme, Grunt's theme, and the galaxy map theme off the top of my head, and I haven't played it at all in over a year.

You lose. Good day, sir!

@bm111

Halo 1, 2, 3, ODST, Wars, Reach
Gears of War 1, 2
Shadow of Colossus
Mass Effect 1, 2, 3
Metal Gear Solid 4
Castlevania (all of them)
Uncharted 1, 2

@bm111
Shadow of the Colossus...It didn't come out a year ago but I played it a year ago... I remember EVERY single song from that game and here's my favorite. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrFL2zPc2uk

Battlefield 1943... I guess it doesn't really count because it only had one song ...but a freakin awesome song and totally memorable at that

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmUZ8B2pgAc&feature=related

@bm111
Shadow of the Colossus...It didn't come out a year ago but I played it a year ago... I remember EVERY single song from that game and here's my favorite. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrFL2zPc2uk

Battlefield 1943... I guess it doesn't really count because it only had one song ...but a freakin awesome song and totally memorable at that

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmUZ8B2pgAc&feature=related

@bm111 Deus Ex and Mass Effect say hi.

The only problem with Orchestrated soundtracks is we're losing interactive music, otherwise some of the most memorable game tunes off the top of my head are live recorded.

@bm111

The problem is the lack of good musical composition, not the adding or orchestral music that's ruining video game music. The problem in the big games from the West is that music is just used in the background as a slight enhancement to the mood.

But in Japanese games where music is still at the forefront, there are some excellent orchestrated soundtracks. I'll point to Super Mario Galaxy and Final Fantasy XIII as examples of games where the music still matters.

@SmashZilla Beat me to it...

@bm111
It's ok, you're just terrible with music. We understand.

@Oddgirl

I don't think having orchestrated music precludes making the music interactive. It just takes a different approach.

@Raffi256

You're absolutely right. It's just that, for the most part, the context sensitive music cues of today's scored games are a lot more jarring than in the past. Shadow of the Colossus is a great example of that. It has one of my all time favourite game scores, but the 'interactive' element isn't seamless.

And to add to that ... a game like DeBlob executes it perfectly.

I miss interactive music too, but I couldn't be more excited that Zelda is getting the full orchestral treatment.

@bm111
someone needs to play smg

@bm111
Alright, everyone is leaping to crap all over you, and while I don't agree with you completely, I understand what you are saying. I agree that there has not been a game score with as many strong melodies as say Final Fantasy VI, or Super Mario World/A Link to the Past/other old Nintendo properties (clearly I have a SNES bias) since those days of MIDI tunes. In general, MIDI scores are definitely stronger melodically than fully orchestrated scores, I don't think anyone can argue with that. And I believe it is partially due to that capability of using a full orchestra - composers don't try as hard to strong, memorable melodies into their scores if they can use real instruments and orchestrations to evoke moods and emotions, whereas composers who were only able to use MIDI sounds for their scores were forced to write strong memorable music because their sonic palettes were much more limited. In blunt terms, I agree that game composers who have real instruments at their disposal are lazier with the actual content of their music, and those scores are often less memorable because of it.

HOWEVER, I think it's wrong to take the attitude of "since it's orchestrated, it'll definitely not be as memorable as it would be if it were MIDI", because it we should not assume that the composer with a full orchestra at her disposal will necessarily be lazy and not write strong, memorable melodies. Case in point, I agree with many of the commenters who say the Mario Galaxy games had very strong music and memorable melodies, and the orchestration only enhanced it.

ALSO, there are some who might argue that a game score's "quality" is not necessarily defined by how memorable it is, which is how I believe you are essentially defining it, bm111. They would argue that a score doesn't have to have any memorable theme at all if is accurately evoking and complementing the mood of the game, and perhaps it is innovative or fresh. I personally am more on your side in this argument, in that I want my games to have strong, memorable melodies, and I won't think the score is as "good" without them. However, those who disagree do have a legitimate point to make.

Mass Effect 2, or Deus Ex: HR, or Gears of War, or Shadow of the Colossus may all have great scores, but none of them has a memorable theme as good anything in FF6 or LoZ:LttP, or many other games in the MIDI music era (I just remembered about the Mega Man games!), and therefore in my opinion the music isn't as "good" - of course, that's a terribly subjective term. But I don't think it's fair to assume this Zelda score will be weaker because it's orchestrated. See Super Mario Galaxy, and a handful of others.
I quite liked Oblivion. That was orchestrated, right?

@TheHamsterplan
Boomaga basically made my point with far fewer words, while I was typing it. I haven't heard any of FFXIII's music, but I'm sure he's right.

@bm111

Chip music is way better for video game music. Sorry to interrupt the hate fest but I agree with the OP.

Whoa, I leave for five minutes and look what happens. ;)

Twilight Princess' soundtrack was beautiful, and I just cringe whenever I hear someone deem it crap just because it's synthesized.

Some said that orchestral music is great in the right hands, if it becomes a muddled mess it's the fault of the composer. And that's exactly my point.

All too often it seems having an orchestra at ones disposal is a free pass to just throw whatever cliche bullcrap out there, ending up with a cacophony of random instruments, and call it a movie-like score.

And the worst thing is that there's plenty of people who buy that nonsense. Similarly as there are those who only think a game has good graphics if it's in HD with a billion shaders and polygons, crappy art assets be damned, so too are there many people who seem to think games automatically sound great with an orchestral track, and -only- with an orchestral track, even if there's no semblance of melody or soul. And unfortunately developers know this.

Someone mentioned Mass Effect. Let's look at the first game. I remember the theme that played when you first walked around the Normandy. It was distinctive, it had character. Whenever I hear it I get goosebumps to this day. You know you all remember it, too.

Then for the rest of the game, all I got was, once again, your common generic sweeping orchestral score. Very disappointing. Now I'm not saying the composers on ME suck, it was probably the result of decisions from higher up, or something. But I can only imagine how much more it could have added to that game if every location had a tune like that to give it a soul. Apparently though, your average epic movie track was deemed sufficient.

@bm111
Lufia 2 says hi.

@bm111

Weird... now that I think about it, a lot of my favorite memorable VG songs are orchestral pieces.

Uncharted
AC
Lost Planet 2
Shadow of the Colossus

Orchestras are the shit, man.

@SmashZilla mario Galaxy 2's tracks were bumpin'

@bm111

Uncharted 2, main theme.

God of War 3, main theme.

Codblops, the theme from the China level--Kowloon, wasn't it?

And I suppose it would be cheating for me to bring up Touhou.

(And if we go back a little farther, "At Zanarkand" from FFX still brings a tear to my eye.)

@bm111

I haven't played Tales of Symphonia in 18 months and i still vividly remember most of the music in the game. When i finished Mario 64 again 2 years ago i still remember most of that music too, particularly the music in the underwater levels.

@bm111

The new Elder Scrolls theme for Skyrim. Holy crap that thing is epic. "Lady of the Light" from Alan Wake. "Tom the Diver" and "A Writter's" dream from the same game. The quirky whistled tune from Deadly Premonition that is so very out of place, but so perfect for some reason. The theme to Grand Theft Auto 4 with the little eastern European sounding undertones on the mandolin. All of the boss fight themes from Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, especially the swamp trolls. Roar of the departed souls from Lost Odyssey is mind bending... should I keep going, or do you not see how stupid your comment was yet?

@Special Agent Bob

Lufia 2? The SNES game? Are you serious? Do you have any idea what this argument is about?

Some other ones some of you mentioned: FFX had a synthesized soundtrack (don't believe me? Find the PSF2 set). Tales of Symphonia had a very very obviously synthesized soundtrack. Super Mario 64? Again, do you even know what we're talking about?

These confused comments are very surprising to me considering the amount of flak Twilight Princess received for having "lol midi crap" music. Care to explain this, anyone?

@bm111

hehe, right. I never minded the midi in say ALTTP, or in Super Mario 64 - great stuff, even now. I also didn't mind the midi in TP.

I think people don't understand midi and how far it has come - with high development costs today it seems asbackwards to have a full on orchestra come in and do the score at a high price.

when the majority of players wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

@lolmont

"I thought up an ending to my book. "And he lived happily ever after, til the end of his days."

@Hi iTs SlayeR

The 3DS remake got orchestrated music, but only in the credits.

@Altrix that sounds very disturbing....

@(Unverified) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS0G9jQ9c6k&feature=player_detailpage#t=106s